June 2013

If you have been hurt at work, you may find yourself asking this question. Well, you probably have received a form from your employer that is the functional equivalent of a form that has been submitted to the industrial commission. It may seem like the employer and the workers’ compensation insurance carrier are working together to make sure that you are taken care of; however, understanding the requirements imposed on employers can make it easier to see that providing certain paperwork to an injured employee is a rule and not a simple nicety.

The North Carolina Industrial Commission imposes certain requirements on employers and you want to make sure that your rights are protected. Arguably, one of the most important reasons to have a workers’ compensation lawyer in Charlotte is because it may help your employer and the insurance company recognize the seriousness of your claim.

Often times people who may handle a claim directly can become upset and this may likely lead to fallouts at work and likely create a hostile work environment. If you’ve been hurt and need to be taken seriously, call the Law Offices of Michael A. DeMayo to schedule a free case review today. You can contact us at 877-333-1000 or check out what a few of our clients have to say at www.demayolaw.com.

While most economic indicators appear to need a right click and refresh to recognize a change, permits for new homes and commercial sites may be rising. More construction creates a presumption that there will be more new construction workers and even some who have been on the sidelines while the building market remains stagnant.

Absent any additional safety measures or training for new construction workers, we will likely have more building sites with more employees which presumes more accidents for the construction workers who make it happen. The problem with this is employers may be trying to skimp on additional overhead costs and unfortunately it’s all too common that employee insurance may be one of those costs an employer sees as “optional.” This is a problem.

If you’re hurt while working on a construction site, do you care if the employer met his bottom line, or how he is able to reduce overhead costs? NO! You want your health back and you don’t want it back at the expense of giving your family a roof on the head and some food in the belly. Monroe accident attorneys spend countless hours fighting against the money over safety employers all the time. It takes great skill and dedication. Do not be misled. If you are attempting to hold your employer responsbile, you can be certain that you will get a fight.

You may be better off finding a different way to cover the costs of your medical bills and time out of work and not ruffle the boss man’s feathers. In other situations, that may not be the case and you may have rights at risk. In any event, contact an injury lawyer in North Carolina to find out what you should do. You may decide that you are better off handling a claim through your own insurance, but having the peace of mind that you talked to a Monroe personal injury lawyer is worth the five minutes it will take to contact us. Call the DeMayo Law Offices to find out if we can help at 704-333-1000.

Late last night after the deck of bar filled with NBA patrons collapsed last night. It’s crazy to think that something like that could happen. One minute everything is fine–folks are having fun as they cheer on their favorite NBA team. The next minute, the whole world changes because of some malfunction. While the cause may still be unknown, it’s obvious that something went wrong. Why? Well, decks don’t just collapse absent some problem.

While in this situation it may be obvious it may not be so obvious when it happens to us personally. These types of “malfunctions” happen more often than we’d like to believe and sometimes, you may fall victim to something like this when you’re working. If you’re not there as a patron, but rather an employee, should the owner’s responsibility to you change?

Well, it honestly depends. While the duty owed to you–an employee may be different from that owed to a patron, an employer should still be the person responsible for your injuries. After all, this is why the North Carolina Industrial Commission requires that certain employers carry workers compensation insurance or otherwise be able to cover your losses through reserve funds. We have seen time and time again that these situations do happen.

Although it is obvious who should be responsible for these injuries, it is much more difficult to get the employer or even the work comp carrier to accept responsibility for these injuries. If you have been hurt at work you know all too well what I’m talking about. It can feel like you’re being hurt all over again and feel like your employer doesn’t care about you.

If this happens to you, it may be a good idea to contact a Charlotte injury attorney to handle your claim and take the burden off of you to handle correspondence with the workers compensation carrier. Rather than spent countless hours on the phone with a work comp rep, take five minutes to call the Law Offices of Michael A. DeMayo. Time and time again, we hear clients tell us how easy it is to work with us and most importantly, how we are able to alleviate that stress in their life. Give us a call at 704-333-1000 today.

It plays out all the time. You work day in and day out for a boss that you believe has your best interest at heart. The boss has workers compensation coverage in the event you are injured at work. Why not? You are working for the boss, under his control, and doing what he asks of you. So of course if something happens to you at work, the boss wants to take care of you. For fairy tale sake let’s assume this is true.

You get hurt. Do everything right and as such inform the human resources contact person that you were hurt and need to make a claim against the company’s work comp insurance. The HR rep tells you “they’ll” deny it and there is no point in you filling out the paperwork. What!? This is the point where most people say, “okay” or a few choice phrases under breath and walk away.

Do not walk away. First of all, where is the HR rep when you’re paying the bill for it. What is “the paperwork?” Who should be filling it out anyway? Maybe it’s just a form, but it’s way easier for the HR rep to tell you it’s not worth it. Understand that if HR tells you “they’ll deny it anyway” you should recognize that it’s not up to that rep to make the decision in the first place. It’s your livelihood and only you know if it’s “worth it.”

Some of my other personal favorites are “we already exhausted our policy” and “you need to file this under your short term disability.” It’s amazing how creative people can be with excuses to not have to their job. If you feel like you’re getting the run around give us a call. There is an entire department at the Law Offices of Michael A. DeMayo that works solely on worker’s compensation benefit claims and we’re never afraid to do work if it means that you and your family can rest easy.